Friday Men’s Basketball game at Minnesota State canceled

Friday’s game between Bemidji State University men’s basketball and Minnesota State University, Mankato has been canceled due to COVID-19 protocols within the MSU program. Following Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference agreed-upon policy, the game will be ruled as “no contest” and will not be rescheduled.

Bemidji State and Minnesota State were scheduled to play at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 14 at Taylor Center in Mankato, Minn.

BSU’s game for Saturday at 3:30 p.m. against Concordia University-St. Paul is on as scheduled at Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, Minn.

Bemidji State leads the all-time series against Concordia-St. Paul, 18-16.

The Beavers and Golden Bears last met Nov. 16 earlier this season, an 82-67 non-conference win by BSU in Bemidji. BSU has won five straight against CSP dating back to Jan. 27, 2017, averaging a scoring margin of +12.0 in those games.

CSP leads the series when played in St. Paul, 11-6. Bemidji State and Concordia-St. Paul first met Jan. 15, 2000, a 51-49 win by CSP in St. Paul.

During the first full weekend out of the winter break, BSU fell at home to Winona State University, 79-74, on Friday, Jan. 7 and No. 19 Upper Iowa University, 85-81, on Saturday, Jan. 8.

The difference in Friday’s game came midway through the second half after the Beavers built a game-high lead of seven points, 59-52, with 11:31 to play. BSU went on a 17-6 run, making seven straight field goal attempts, to grab its lead after halftime. Winona State pulled away behind a 16-5 run over a span of 8:55, missing just one field goal and making 7-of-8 free throw attempts to seal the game.

Senior guard Travis Bianco chipped in 13 of his 23 points in the first half and finished the game shooting 8-of-14 from the field, including 5-of-9 from 3-point range. He also led BSU in rebounds for a team-high fifth time. Senior guard Mohamed Kone followed in scoring with 15 points and tied with Bianco for the BSU lead with seven rebounds.

BSU nearly overcame a 16-point deficit to No. 19 UIU on Saturday behind Bianco’s first career 30-point game. Upper Iowa took a game-high 16-point lead midway through the opening half before Bemidji State went on a run of 25-11, including 13 points from Bianco and eight from sophomore forward Dalton Albrecht. The Beavers tied the game out of halftime and took its largest lead of the game, 64-52, with 9:03 to play. UIU chipped away and limited BSU to 1-of-6 shooting late in the game, allowing the Peacocks to take the lead with 40 seconds to play. UIU made 5-of-6 free throws to end the game.

Bianco’s 31 points marked his third game over the last four with at least 20 points. He shot 12-of-21 from the field to go along with seven rebounds and two steals. Albrecht followed in scoring with 15 points off the bench, joining senior guard Gare Ewefada who had 12 points off the bench.

Thompson continued to climb the scoring and rebounding charts at Bemidji State over the weekend. He moved into sole possession of fourth all-time at BSU with 1,424 points and remains fifth with 624 rebounds.

Bemidji State has shot over 44 percent from the field for the sixth straight game and ranks 21st nationally shooting 49.9 percent from the field.